Calling all long time Amiga users!!!

[Gavilan]

Hi!! Im asking for contributions!!!
Im doing a feature for the mag i work, about RETROCOMPUTING.
Thing is, im researching as much as i can about most popular 8/16 bit systems, and im trying to get as much data as i can, so if you have 10 minutes free, and would love to answer this questions (it doesnt have to be posted here, if you prefer, you can send me PM) to help me trough, i will be more than happy and you will make my day...(and of course you will be credited in the article!!!
)
Please people, i need feedback from as many users as possible!! And, if you also owned another 8 or 16 bit computer (NOT console, just home computer) in the past, and also would like to contribute, well, drop me a line!!!!

So here are the questions!!!!
1) Name 5 all time favorite games (can be Amiga specifically or multiformat.
2) Name 5 all time favorite companies (companies which produced games, of course, but also companies that produced hard, and i dont mean Commodore itself, but third parties).
3) Things you CAN do with Amiga that CANT with most modern PC´s (of course you can also explain why you prefer to surf internet using amiga browsers rather than pc´s ones)
4) Famous QUOTES about 8 and 16 bit machines.
5) 5 all time favorite people (for example Jay Miner, or some programmer like Archer McLean , Geoff Crammond, David Braben, ... Things like that)
6) Amiga estimated sales figures. I already have an idea about how many Amigas were sold in UK, Germany & USA. Would love to have feedback from italian users, spanish users, french users, polish users, czech users, aussie users, turkish users, greek users, belgium users ,new zealand users, dutch users, danish users, swedish users, norwegian users...you get my idea.
7) Same as 6) but guessing how many ACTIVE Amiga users are left.

8) If the Amiga wasnt your first home computer, name which one it was.
9) Quick opinion about EMULATION of Amiga on other systems
10) Quick opinion about ABANDONWARE
11) Quick opinion about if computing in the 8/16 era was funnier than now
12) Quick opinion about the demo scene

Well, i think that would be all for now...hope to have loads of info from you!!!


Kind Regards!

Sebastian

[Figi]

1) Civilization, Turrican 2, Giana Sisters, Last Ninja 2, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 2

2) Rainbow Arts, System 3, Electronic Arts in the late 80's/early 90's (before becoming a PITA to the market), Factor 5, Thalion

3) Use a computer without any background noise at all (no fans, no harddrive); Play a quick game; Carry the whole equipment around in a small backpack (everyone has a TV set ; and last not least: build a kind of relationship to the computer (it's not just a "well, in 6 months your gfx card will be replaced, anyway"-exchangeable tool, but an *Amiga* :-)

4) Can't think of any

5) Manfred Trenz, Andreas Escher, Chris Hülsbeck, Steve Jobs, Michael Pauly (being the first editor of the famous magazine "Happy Computer")

6) uh... dunno. All models combined must have broken the 1-million-barrier in Germany easily for sure

7) A few hundred, if "active" means "using the real miggy regularly over a long period of time"

8) Sharp MZ-821

9) Great thing!

10) The only way of getting the old games, since there's not enough originals sold on ebay. Plus, since the software companies don't sell that stuff any more, there's no harm done (financial) to anyone.

11) Different, yes. Funnier, no.

12) Keep up the good work, dudes!

Hope that helps.

[RetroMan]

1) Another World, Giana Sisters, Worms D.C., SWOS, OnEscapee

2) Team17, US Gold, Rainbow Arts, Renegade, Sadeness

3) I love browsing the Net because : No SpyWare, AdWare, Trojans etc.

4) ???

5) Jay Miner, Manfred Trenz, David Whittaker, Chris Hülsbeck, Andy Davidson

6) ???

7) Hmmmm, dunno .... about 5000 .....

8) Amstrad CPC464

9) Not my kind of thing, just using it to do quick dirty tests ....

10) If it is the ONLY way to get old games ok, if not .....

11) It was an other kind of gaming than nowadays ....

12) Love watching Demos, those people really got my respect for their work !

[Daff]

1) Kick Off 2, The Manager, Formula One Grand Prix, Dune 2, The Settlers.

2) Team 17, Psygnosis, Sensible Software, Impressions.

3) Boot quickly the computer, anti-virus not needed, browsing the internet without spyware, play Kick Off 2 :-)

4) ...

5) Dan Malone, Chris Huelsbeck, Dino Dini, Dave Haynie.

6) 1.5 million in the world
80000-100000 in France.

7) MorphOS + AmigaOS + AROS community = 10000 people ?
Windows UAE users = much more.
There were a nice article about this : http://obligement.free.fr/articles/amigadanslemonde.php

8) Commodore 128

9) Good thing. With emulation Amiga "Classic" is undeathable.

10) Do not abuse this kind of thing. Lot's abandonwares are not really abandonned by the authors !

11) Amiga was and still a great fun to use. Now all computers do the same things. With the Amiga, you can do all this but in a funniest way.

12) ...

[gimbal]

1) (assuming Amiga games) Turrican 2, Dune 2, Dungeon Master, Valhalla 2, Supercars 2

2) Core design, Gremlin Graphics, Bullfrog, Rainbow Arts, Ocean

3) nothing, since Amiga's can be emulated on a PC.

4) would have to dig up my Amiga Action collection to quote a few remarks made by the Boggit about Atari ST users

5) Chris Huelsbeck, Manfred Trenz, Jeroen Tel, Peter Molyneux, no others spring to mind.

6) I have no idea about actual numbers in Holland.

7) The only thing I do know is that they are still being offered online in respectable numbers, so a lot of people still have one.

8) Atari 2600 I guess, if you want to count consoles. Otherwise it was the Amiga 500.

9) Wouldn't want to live without it. Through emulation the Amiga can stay alive forever, even if all the hardware dies eventually.

10) The games that are now abandonware are the games I used to play as a kid, and in my opinion those games were far better than the ones released today. So I am glad that abandonware exists, it allows me to play the games legally without having to scour the earth for a copy that still works.

11) Yes, it was more fun. It was from before the age of Electronic Arts! Nowadays they make games to render as much cash as possible, which means making them so even someone with poo for a brain can play them and win (linear storyline, only a single path to follow with arrows to guide your way, click the button puzzels, or simply shoot everything that moves gameplay). Not only that, but they release sequel after sequel because there is no imagination left at all... (it's not all bad of course, there are a few exceptions).

12) Couldn't say much about it, except that I really respect the people who make them. It's truly something that requires a lot of skill and effort, not forgetting that these people will most likely have to make them in what spare time they have.

[Figi]

Originally Posted by gimbal

(linear storyline, only a single path to follow with arrows to guide your way, click the button puzzels, or simply shoot everything that moves gameplay)

Ah! R-Type! ;-D

[nzo]

1) Alien Breed - Tower Assault, Superfrog, Apidya, SuperCars 2, Cadaver
2) Psygnosis, Team 17, Bitmap Brothers, Rainbow Arts, Gremlin
3) screen dragging
4) Have You Got What It Takes?
5) Dave Haynie, Jay Miner, Chris Huelsbeck, Eric Schwartz, Fred Fish
6) about 400 Amiga machines in Hungary
7) about 50 ACTIVE Amiga users in Hungary
8) C= Plus/4
9) speed is a great value
10) really good thing
11) games was more playable
12) today it's almost dead, in the 80's (early 90's) was a lot better (Phenomena: Enigma / Alcatraz: Odyssey roxx!!!)

[Zetr0]

Heys Gavilan,

Good luck with your article, heres some infor for you.

1: Gauntlet(a500), Wizball(c64), UFO-Enemy Unknown(A1200),
Enigma Force(c64), Paradroid(c64).

2: Psygnosis, OCEAN, Code Masters, Team 17, DMA

3: PLUG AND PLAY!

4: "All your base belongs to us" Captain Blood, "Eurgonomic Design" Megalomainia
"Meeeaannnn Arrreeeennaaass" Mean Arenas, sooo many more

5: A.Braben (elite), Rob Hubbard (64 Tune Guru), Raphel Guasta (Flashback music),
Einstein (energy equating mass squared is important!) and that dood whom
invented the Amiga

6: ermm i can say after 1995 it didn`t do so well lol.

7: Active Amigans.... (not including Evil Ebay Mongers) would say a few hundred k

8: easy (built it myself at the age of 9 1/2 years old) ZX80.

9: As i am lucky to own original equipment EMU is just a tool to setup or test and I
have to admit it kinda got me back into the amiga bug thing as I joined this
Forum a couple of months ago I had shelved my amigas for last 3 years. one is
out of the shed being *worked* on. re-housing in DVD chasis with DVD rom and
4GIG drive with 030 upgrade will post picys when finnished

10: Its a blessing and a painfull reminder of entrothapy, to see so many good names
and games reduced to obscurity, its like seeing your closest friends made homeless
. The blessing in that the software is cost-less but i would prefer to see what
games my favourite software houses would of made today.

11: It most certainly was not as PC (no pun) as games are today. for instance game
titles like "IRAQ-Nophobia". Games have also in many ways become unisex and to
a degree (agree with gimbal) their lame, but on the other had in some ways
games have grown up some what. (no more bedroom coders *sob)

12: It was all that and a bag of chips! (tunes that is!). it was a way of linking
teenage kids with the underground. with cracking, hacking and demo crews,
tunes messages and greets. I learnt more German and French from the Demo
Scene than i did at school lol, however REAL demos pushed the hardware and
or math-graphical expression to its limmits and beyond. so miss them days...

Well there you go Gavilan, I hope it is of some use for you.

[gimbal]

(no more bedroom coders)

I am one Only problem is that my interest in a project is comparable to da Vinci, before I can ever finish one, I'm already working on two new ones

[wanderer]

1) Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon, Turrican, Another World, Kick Off 2, Superfrog.
2) Cinemaware, Rainbow Arts, Graftgold, Thalion, Team 17
3) All things. The PC is not an Amiga. The 'say' utility. Screen dragging. Speed. Guru meditation. Turn off, not the 'shut down' crap. "Amiga" carved on the case. Games. Real ones. And lots more.
4) Sir Clive is back..??
5) Chris Huelsbeck, Geoff Crammond, Manfred Trenz, Dino Dini, and yes, the dude who invented the Amiga.
6) Couldn't find any data.
7) That hurts...
8) Commodore 16 (never actually worked, first working: Commodore 64)
9) Great
10) A piece of history
11) Hmmm, it was less complicated and opportunistic, more authentic, therefore funnier too...
12) Great

Let us know when the article comes out Sebastian.

1) Elite (BBC Model B), Hunter (Amiga), Speedball 2 (Amiga), Flashback (Amiga), Populous (Amiga), Dune 2 (Amiga). I know thats 6 games but I couldn't choose between Populous and Dune 2.
2) Bitmap Brothers, Team 17, Delphi Studios, Bullfrog, Magnetic Fields
3) Can't think of anything.
4) Famous quotes........ eh?
5) Peter Molyneux, David Braben, and Archer McLean for Jimmy Whites.
6) Not got the foggiest.
7) Same as 6)
8) BBC Model B
9) Good, as I gave my Amiga away many years ago.
10) Pure nostalgia, mostly best seen through rose tinted glasses.
11) Well there certainly weren't any arrogant teenagers saying "Stfu n00b U suk" etc.
12) I haven't seen any demo's since I had my Amiga but some were very good but a lot were just a load of floaty text wriggling across the screen to jingly synth music and once you'd seen one lot of wriggly text, you'd pretty much seen them all.

[MSC]

Famous quote? I remember something like:

"To be this good will take SEGA, AGES" as Commodore launched the CD32.

[Dastardly]

1) 1: ICO (PS2), 2: Choas Engine (Amiga), 3: Final Fantasy VII (PSX), 4: Flashback (Amiga), 5: Cadaver (Amiga).

2) The Bitmap Brothers, Konami, Square, Nintendo, SNK

3) Amiga was much more portable

4) "Do me a favour, plug me into a Sega"

5) Dan Malone (Bitmap Brothers artist), Richard Joseph (Bitmap Brothers musician & others), Chris Huelsbeck, Jay Miner and Eric Chahi.

6) Not a clue but I can account for 1 A500 and 1 CD32

7) Not a clue.

8) First home computer was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum which lasted about a week before being returned to the shop and swapped for a C64. A choice Ive never regretted.

9) Emulation is superb and I love being able to play all the sytems I ever owned. It will never be as good as the original though

10) In certain cases I think its fine.

11) It was certainly more fun but Im not sure about "funnier".

12) I was never that into demos apart from the really impressive ones. I think the guys that produce them have a lot of talent but most are boring.

[Matthias]

1) Monkey Island 2, James Pond 2, Lemmings, Nuclear War, Cannon Fodder

2) LucasArts, Rainbow Arts, DMA, Sierra, Origin

3) On the Amiga (500) playing games always had a "social" component. Taking turns (one person playing, the other one swapping disks) and "chatting" while the games were loading... and lots of possibilities to play cooperative. On modern PCs it's usually the deathmatch style of games and you play over the internet or a LAN and not in front of ONE machine and ONE monitor, sitting on ONE couch.
These are more the consoles today, but they too now come with modem and everything.
I liked it better back when you really sat next to the person you were playing against/with.

4) ...

5) ...

6) No idea.

7) No idea.

8) The C64 of a school friend. *gg*

9) Great thing. I always have "my amiga" with me on my laptop.
There's nothing like sitting in your local Starbucks with a few friends, playing Glücksrad or HeroQuest.
This would be impossible without emulation.

10) A great thing, if it really IS abandoned.

11) It was, yes. The games were more my kind of thing. Actually I don't like huge games with "epic" stories. If I had to choose between...Morrowind and Tetris, I would pick Tetris. Because you can play it for half an hour an then turn it off, without the fear of forgetting what you were supposed to do, when you turn it on a week later again. These are the kind of games I like... the ones you play for a few minutes and then turn them off again. And these are very rare today (Worms 3D comes to mind, I like that game very much).

12) I don't really know anything about the scene. Well, I enjoy watching C64 demos, because I like SID-Tunes and they often are very impressive, but I don't have a real "opinion" about the scene, because I don't know enough about it, to have one.